lender life
Simpler Surfing
Mortgage quote Web site helps consumers and community banks
By Kristen Lobdell
I
t’s not always easy for a borrower to get a mortgage quote online. Many Web sites promise the best mortgage rates, but often these sites require borrowers to submit personal data and then fail to offer the best rates or the most accurate and upto-date data. The process is certainly frustrating consumers. Only 36 percent of online shoppers were satisfied with their online mortgage experience, according to a 2006 Forrester Research survey. Nearly a third of respondents
reported they want a user-friendly tool to compare lenders and loans—yet fewer than 50 percent of them actually found such a tool online. From a community bank’s point of view, the online mortgage industry does indeed have its shortcomings. Banks participating in cost-per-click mortgageadvertising programs, in which mortgages are listed in order of who bids the highest for the spot, may also be underwhelmed. A few dollars per click can really add up for community banks, especially when those clicks do not guarantee a new mortgage customer since many are just browsing.
A Modern Marvel
As the mortgage industry grows increasingly competitive, some community banks are seeking a more efficient and less costly means of reaching out to new online loan customers, and a few have set their sites on Mortgage Marvel. Mortgage Marvel, a product of ICBA Mortgage Partner Mortgagebot, is a Web site that allows potential borrowers to get accurate and up-to-theminute rate and fee information from local lenders. Posted rates and fees are guaranteed to be current, and minimal personal information is needed to rate shop. Officially launched in its beta phase last October, Mortgagebot has about 250 clients—
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about 65 percent of which are community banks. Unlike other mortgage search tools, borrowers only need to provide the loan amount, purchase price and zip code. “Borrowers no longer need to fight their way through confusing Web sites, and they don’t have to spend significant time revealing volumes of personal information,” explains Scott Happ, president and CEO of Mortgagebot. For a community bank to use Mortgage Marvel, it must be a partner of Mortgagebot and become a user of Powersite, a secure hosted application that allows potential borrowers to look up and compare rates, points, annual percentage rates (APR), lock days, closing costs and payments in real-time. Loans are initially ranked based on APR, from lowest to highest. Potential borrowers can also sort by rate, points, APR, closing costs, lock
Statistical Snapshot >
77percent
of online mortgage shoppers are looking for rate and fee information.
>
29 percent
of them want a user-friendly tool to compare lenders and loans—yet less than 50 percent of them actually found such a tool online.
> Only
36 percent
Source: Forrester Research
of customers were satisfied with their online mortgage experience.
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lender life
days and payment—but not based on which bank bid the highest.
Building Trust
Borrowers consider the fact that this mortgage quote tool does not require personal information— a big plus in an age when consumers are increasingly concerned about security and privacy when doing business on the Internet. In fact, the Home Buying Institute specifically recommends that online borrowers do business only with lenders they “know and trust,” a likelihood with Mortgage Marvel since it returns a list of local lenders for any mortgage search.
Find Out More
For more information, go to Mortgagebot’s Web site at www.mortgagebot.com. Mortgagebot is a Premier Value Provider of ICBA SmartLender.
While its in beta period, participation in Mortgage Marvel is free for Mortgagebot Partners. Later on the company plans to implement a marketing fee to cover related costs. While participating community banks are excited about the prospects of the technology, the volume of new applications referred to partners has been limited: Mortgage Marvel referred just over 1,600 visitors to clients’ sites in the first 60 days. However, as the Web site is further marketed to consumers, the volume is expected to increase. ib Kristen Lobdell is a free-lance writer in Malden, Mass.
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